The Interrogation
by AliasCWN
Summary: Tully and Hitch are captured and need to stall until the others arrive.


**The Interrogation**

 **By AliasCWN**

The cell door opened and the guards motioned the prisoners out. Tully Pettigrew and Mark Hitchcock stepped into the hall. They followed two of the guards through the building, out into the street, and into the headquarters building. Four more Germans walked behind them, rifles pointed at their backs.

Tully hesitated before entering the second structure. A guard poked him with his rifle and barked an order. With a shove Tully was propelled through the door.

"Impatient aren't they?" Mark reached out to steady Tully in the dim hallway.

Another guard hit Mark across the shoulder with the barrel of his weapon and yelled at him in German.

"Don't speak the lingo." He shrugged off the blow and grinned at the guard. The German swung at him again but Mark sidestepped and the rifle hit the guard behind him. One of the first guards spoke to the others and the confrontation came to an end. The prisoners were prodded into moving further into the building.

"We need to stall. Sarge and Doc need time to get here." Tully crowded into Hitch and whispered some quick advice. The guards glared at him for speaking but made no move to hit them again.

They were taken to a room that looked like an office. A huge desk took up most of one wall. An oil painting of Hitler hung next to a German flag on the wall behind the desk. They were led to two chairs and knocked off their feet to land seated. All six guards took up positions around the room. Both privates examined the situation in detail in case an opportunity presented itself.

A German officer entered the room with a flurry of activity as everyone snapped to attention.

Tully and Hitch exchanged grins at the pompous attitude of the officer.

"We will talk." The officer faced the prisoners with his feet spread and his hands clasp behind his back. His stilted English was spoken with a heavy accent.

"Well sure. We'd like that. It gets kind of boring in those cells." Hitch smiled at the officer. "Just what do you want to talk about?"

The German eyed the Americans suspiciously. They were both watching him expectantly, the picture of cooperation. Deciding that they would be amiable to answering questions he strode to the chair behind his desk and sat down.

"Closer." He indicated that they should move their chairs closer to the desk. They did as they were told, watching the guards as they slid their chairs forward. The officer nodded his satisfaction at their compliance.

"Now we talk."

"Well, my name is Private Mark Hitchcock. This is Private Tully Pettigrew. Who might you be?" Hitch gave the German one of his brightest smiles. He pointed to Tully as he introduced him and Tully nodded a greeting of his own. The officer accepted the introductions with good grace. He returned Tully's nod before facing Hitch again.

"I am Captain Otto Ginter, I run this base."

"Pleased to meet you Captain. We haven't seen a whole lot of this base but what we have seen is very neat and organized. The blankets in the cells are even clean. You know, I don't think I even saw any holes in the one I had." Hitch kept smiling as he turned to Tully. "How about you Tully. Did your blanket have any holes in it?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't think it did." Tully drawled lazily.

"There. You're doing a fine job of running this base." Hitch exclaimed jubilantly. He continued to smile as he saw a flash of anger in the captain's eyes. "If you have time maybe you could give us a tour of your base. We sure would like to see it. Wouldn't we Tully? And we have plenty of time. Whenever it's convenient for you, that is." Hitch spoke fast, rambling as he tried to keep the conversation neutral.

"I don't think that would be wise." The captain rose to his feet and walked around his desk to stand in front of the privates.

"Maybe you're right." Hitch agreed. "Folks might get the wrong idea if you were to waste your time entertaining a couple of privates. Your soldiers might get jealous. Maybe you could have a couple of your men do the honors."

"Stop!" The captain's face turned red as he lost his temper. "We will not be touring the base." Taking a seat on the top of his desk, he glared at the prisoners. A muffled chuckle from one of his guards brought him jumping to his feet once more. "We will talk!"

"That's what I was doing." The blond private complained. "I thought we were getting acquainted." He adopted what he hoped looked like a hurt expression. When he met the captain's gaze he tried not to smile at the angry look he got in return.

"I will ask the questions. You will answer," Pulling himself to his full height, he threw his shoulders back and clasp his hands behind his waist.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you look like your Furor when you do that?"

The officer glared at Hitchcock but he pulled his shoulders further back at what he considered a compliment,

"You will tell me what I want to know."

"That's the problem.' Hitch interrupted.

The captain glared at him again. "What is the problem?"

"What if we don't know what you want to know?" Hitch shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Tully. "I mean, we don't know what you want to know. I don't mean that we don't know what you want to know. I mean that you haven't told us what you want to know so how do we know if we know what you want to know? Do you see the problem?"

Looking at the blond in confusion, the captain didn't answer the question. He looked from one private to the other in silence. Both met his eyes in bold fashion waiting for his reaction.

"Should I explain it again?" Hitch ask innocently.

"No. No, that won't be necessary. I wish to know what orders you were given."

"When?"

"Now!" The captain yelled impatiently.

"Nobody gave us any orders just now. You just ask a question. Did you mean it as an order cause it didn't sound like one." The blond explained in a rush. "Did it sound like an order to you Tully?"

Tully considered the question before he slowly shook his head. "Nope. Sounded like a question."

"Stop! Do you think me a fool?"

Hitch flinched as the officer yelled. He leaned away from the captain as if frightened, Both privates remained silent, staring at their interrogator.

"Answer me!"

"Now see. That sounded like an order." Hitch grinned. "Now you're getting it."

"Getting what?" Ginter ground his teeth in frustration.

"That's how you give an order. At least that's how it's done in our army." At an order from the captain one of the guards stepped to Hitchcock's side and backhanded him across the face. Another barked an order at Tully to sit still as he reacted to the blow.

"What'd you do that for? I was just trying to help." The blond adopted a sullen expression as he righted himself in the chair.

"You will answer my questions."

"I was."

The German shook his head stubbornly. "You will answer the questions I ask."

"That's the problem."

"What's the problem?"

"You didn't ask any questions yet." Hitch ducked the rifle barrel aimed at his head. "Cut that out!" He growled at the guard. "Tell him to stop that will you? He could hurt somebody that way." He glared at the guard again.

"He will follow my orders." Giving the guards more instructions he watched as they took up positions directly behind the prisoners.

"No need to get all mean about it." The blond grumbled.

"What orders were you given?"

"Here we go again. When?"

Captain Ginter found himself grinding his teeth again. He took a deep breath before responding. "What orders were you given before you came here?"

"Oh then. Why didn't you say so before?" Hitch looked at Tully, then at the guards. "Sarge told us to get the jeeps ready for a patrol. He had us go to supply and requisition supplies for a week. When we were done he told us to drive. He even told us which way to go. That's how we ended up here." The blond finished proudly.

"And what were you to do here?"

Hitch looked at Tully and frowned. "Well there's the problem again."

Captain Ginter sighed before asking. "What's the problem this time?"

"Well. Then your boys come along and caught us and Sarge didn't get a chance to tell us just what he wanted us to do."

"So you are telling me that you don't know what you were to do here?" The captain began to massage his forehead with his fingers.

"That's right. Hey. We don't know what you want to know! Oh, I mean, now we know what you want to know but we don't know it. What you want to know I mean." Hitch grinned as if the explanation should be perfectly clear. He frowned when he saw the captain's expression. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Are you by any chance simple-minded?"

"Me?" Hitch blurted indignantly. "Why would you ask that? I answered you questions didn't I?" He pretended to pout as the captain studied him.

"And you." The German turned to Tully. "Are you simple-minded too?"

Tully lowered his head and considered the question. "Wal… I didn't have much schoolin' before I joined the army. My folks didn't set much store in things like that. I don't figure that I could explain it any better than Hitch did. Most likely not as good. To be honest, he plumb lost me when he was explaining it to you'all. I guess you'd be better off asking him to explain it to you again." Tully kept his voice slow and low. He mumbled as much as he could, playing the simpleton.

Unable to contain his anger, the captain shouted to his men. They hurried forward and grabbed the prisoners by the arms. Both privates were rushed from the room. They were taken straight back to their cell.

The door clanged shut leaving the prisoners alone. The two men strolled to their cots and sat down.

"Home sweet home." Hitch smiled.

"It really isn't so bad is it? The blankets are clean and they don't have any holes." Tully grinned at his friend.

"If only we knew what he wanted to know." The blond continued.

"Well, you'll have to explain it to him. You really did lose me with that one. And I think you gave the captain a headache."" Tully leaned back on his cot and yawned.

"Well, I"ll have to start all over again because I forget where I was."

Tully closed his eyes and sighed. "Well, that should give Sarge and Doc plenty of time to get us out of here." Tully relaxed and was soon fast asleep while Hitch stared out the window watching for the sergeants.

[]l


End file.
